Like Herding Nexu
By Andrew J Talon
Kessel
Commander Kratas knew this was going to be a mess the moment they broke through the atmosphere down into the Kessel skies. Doole was cagey and desperate. He'd insisted that the Imperials put anti-air defenses around the Prison, to increase the defenses and replace what had been destroyed by the Rebels. Anti-starfighter laser and missile batteries were something that were supposed to make things easier on them, and by using commercially available systems instead of just Imperial, they could disguise the fact of who owned Kessel right now.
That was a lot of firepower to be directed against their flight… And the target warnings screaming at them indicated that's just what had happened.
"All ships, evasive action!"
Green laser bolts shot up from the ground, filling the air with shots as the shuttles and their TIE escorts dropped chaff and evaded frantically. Ensign Lockhart put the Lambda-class shuttle into a steep dive, trying to get low enough to be lost amongst the terrain. A TIE Fighter dove with them, exploding as a flurry of laser blasts tore through it and sent its flaming remains spiraling ahead of them. Lockhart hit full reverse, and Kratas and the rest of the crew were slammed forward, and then back as Lockhart slowed the shuttle down and angled their dive higher.
"What are you-?!" Kratas tried, but he put it together as the burning TIE fighter stayed in the front screen. Desperately, Locknar was trying to keep the falling debris between them and the lasers, shielding them from the sensors.
She brought them down into a cratered valley on the planet and flew as low as she could to keep in the cover. The missile lock alarm blared next, and Locknar did her best to get lower.
Kratas hit the comm.
"Flight Delta Actual to Flight Delta! Report!"
"Alpha Squadron's taking heavy losses, sir," Flight Officer Curdoy reported, "Delta flight, we've lost Cresh and Dorn shuttles. We're trying to get through to the ships but there's a jamming field!"
"Blast! All right, Delta Flight, follow me! Alpha Flight, get clear of the jamming and bring in some reinforcements!" Kratas ordered. He looked at Locknar. "Here! Stop!"
The shuttle slowed and came in for a rough landing at the bottom of a deep ravine. Its lower wings folded up, allowing the shuttle to perch on the rocky ground like a nervous bird. Locknar looked at the readings.
"We're about four kilometers out, sir," she pointed out, "that's a long walk."
"You're not wrong," Kratas observed. He looked over at Frenton, who had undone his crash webbing and now stood just behind them. "You have the nav data for the area, Sarge?"
"Right here, sir," he said, plugging a datacard into the console. Maps made from several patrols of Kessel appeared on one of the viewers. Kratas hummed.
"I was right… The jamming station is about five kilometers south long this ravine," he mused. "Good luck getting us down this far, Ensign."
Locknar blushed.
"N-Not a problem, sir."
"It'd take too long to take it out on foot, sit," Frenton pointed out. Kratas shook his head, stroking his goatee.
"True… But the secondary shield would hold off anything short of a…"
He looked over at Locknar with a smile. She blinked.
"Sir?"
"Sergeant, you were in the paratroopers, correct?" Kratas asked. "You were trained in high and low jumps, yes?"
"And emergency tactical jumps, yes sir," Frenton said, staring intently at Locknar. "Think she can pull it off?"
"She got us this far," Kratas said with a nod, "All right. Ensign Locknar? You and Sergeant Frenton will head out in the shuttle. I will lead the surviving troops against the prison itself. We'll make our assault the second the jamming field is down."
"Er, but how sir?" Locknar asked, "Respectfully, if we don't have any weapons that can take that system down, what are we going to be doing?"
Kratas smiled.
"Crashing this shuttle into the generator, of course," he said.
Locknar's jaw dropped.
"I-you-Sir-?!"
"You got us down with no problem, I have no doubt you can crash this shuttle into the jamming station with equal precision," he nodded to Frenton, "And the good Sergeant will get you both out in time."
"I… Um-"
"If you can't do it, I understand," Kratas said softly, "I can pilot the shuttle myself. But Frenton's the only one with jump experience who could get us out, which would leave you the only ranking officer available to command the ground assault. You don't have that experience."
Her pale face was still locked in shock as she processed it.
"No sir," Locknar shook her head. She took a deep breath and nodded.
"I'll get it-We'll get it done, sir."
Kratas smiled and nodded.
"Good. Now, gentlemen? Let's move out!"
"Sir!"
Being in the middle of a chaotic firefight was really nothing new to Han and Chewie. They'd been in plenty. All the confusion and chaos practically made them invisible, as they ran through the prison's outer areas with a horde of spice spiders screaming and killing. Since the guards were the only ones armed, the monsters went after them for the energy in their blasters. The prisoners seized their chance and began running for any exit or cover they could find.
One of the little monsters tried to tackle them, but Kyp held out his hand and focused.
"No… No… Hurt them, not me, hurt them…!" He muttered. The spider wavered, before turning and charging towards a nest of Stormtroopers firing away at the voracious horde. Kyp staggered, and Han caught him.
"You okay kid?"
"Tired… It's taking… So much energy," Kyp mumbled. Han helped him run as they got to an inner gate. The guards on the towers above were firing wildly into the monstrous swarm, which only emboldened them. Lando helped Daala up to the control panel, which she opened and began to fiddle with. Chewie was carrying the still injured Barriss, who clung to the big Wookie like a small child would to their parents.
"Ugh… New security codes are overriding my own," Daala growled, "This is ridiculous! We kept the Imperial coding subtle to prevent anyone from knowing we were in charge-!"
"Complain to your computer techs later, sweetheart!" Lando shouted. The doors whirred, and then slowly began to open. Daala smirked at Lando.
"Ha!" She turned to the opening doors. "'Sweetheart' this!"
A Stormtrooper was waiting on the other side and held up his blaster. Daala's stomach turned to ice. She knew where the blast would hit, how it would superheat her clothing and then her skin, making it explode and rupture her internal organs. Death would occur in five to fifteen seconds. Possibly shorter given her existent injuries.
The stormtrooper pulled the trigger… Daala felt a strong hand yank her to the side. She heard a blaster go off by her ear, and two shots lanced through the eyeholes of the Stormtrooper's helmet, sending him crashing down. She looked over to see Lando Calrissian holding her shoulder in one hand, and a smoking blaster in the other. His face was resolute, none of the joviality of before. He looked like a true warrior, a lightslinger out of ancient stories.
Her heart skipped a beat… Before she drew her own blaster and added to the fire pouring out from her comrades, clearing a path towards the spaceport proper. She didn't care about how tightly Lando held her by her waist as they limped from cover to cover, seeking freedom.
Certainly not!
They holed up behind some heavy crates barely a few meters from the doors, as blaster fire rained down on them from all directions. There were Stormtroopers on the walkways overhead, firing at them from nearby all directions.
Barriss winced as a shot hit nearby her head. Han held up his blaster and fired, taking out the trooper who fired. He fell from the battlements, crying out as he crashed near the fugitives. Kyp was looking pale, as Han, Chewbacca, Lando, and Daala fired back.
"Kriff it all, we need a distraction," Han shouted. "Daala! You still in the system?!
Daala pulled out her datapad.
"I think I can-GAH!" A blaster shot blew through the pad, and she threw it away in shock."No! I can't!"
Barriss grit her teeth. She focused on the Force, let it fill her, flow through her.
"General Solo, my lightsaber please," Barriss asked.
"Lady, we are going to get fried and you're still-!"
"General Solo," Barriss stated urgently. Han growled, and tossed her the lightsaber. She caught it in her hand, and activated it.
"You're still suffering from a concussion!" Han pointed out. Barriss nodded, and smiled.
"Then I won't use my eyes."
She rose, swinging her blade to reflect two shots away. She swung again, and again, the stances and strikes of Form III coming to her naturally. She danced between the shots she couldn't deflect, as Han, Chewbacca, Lando and Daala supplied supporting fire. Kyp was carried by Han, but even through his exhaustion, he watched her in awe.
It had been so long since she'd really let loose like this. For a moment, she was back amongst her fellow Jedi, dancing with her saber and showing off her skills. Free to express herself.
Free to be herself.
A Stormtrooper fell above them, another got behind cover and tried to open up with an E-Web She could sense him as though she could see him with her own eyes. Barriss reached out, and yanked the man out from behind cover. Chewie fired his bowcaster, blowing up the heavy weapons nest.
Through the din of this chaos, they made it to the next set of blast doors.
"Cover me," Barriss ordered. She thrust her blade into the blast doors, focusing the heat and energy through the blade via the force. She could feel the door's interlocking mechanism begin to melt, the heat fairly washing over her face. Even with the pain throughout her body, she felt the Force guide her.
"We're running out of room here, Lady!" Han shouted.
"Almost through… Almost…!"
She felt the center give way. Barriss held out her hand, and used the Force to shove the interlocking mechanism through the doors. With another wave of her hand, she yanked the doors apart… And her knees went weak as nausea hit her hard enough she doubled over.
"Hey! Hey, calm, we've got this," Han said, helping to carry her. They ran across open ground, and went up to the upper levels. Barriss forced her eyes open: She could see the Millenium Falcon sitting on a landing platform. Even in the midst of this situation, her Corellian cultural experience made her grimace.
Is that thing made of nothing but junk parts?!
A loud clanking echoed across the port area. An all too familiar clanking. They turned and looked out. A gigantic AT-AT stomped through the massive outer gates. It pointed it's huge forward laser cannons towards them. The group slid to a halt. Daala grimaced, and picked up her commlink.
"This is Admiral Daala! I order you all to stand down! I repeat, stand down-!"
Han pulled out his thermal detonator, and activated it. He tossed it to Chewbacca.
"CHEWIE!"
Chewbacca dropped to his knee, and locked on, calm as a big Wookie could be while an active thermal detonator was resting in front of his eye. He pulled the trigger, and launched the thermal detonator right at the massive walker.
Everyone dropped down onto the catwalk as the thermal detonator exploded with a massive blast. Barriss managed to look up first, looking through the smoke. Her eyes widened.
"STAY DOWN!" She shouted, as two laser cannons roared. Two shots raced overhead, splitting the air and ripping screams out of their throats.
Han, Lando, and Chewie dropped down, hanging onto the catwalk. Lando held onto Daala, Han held onto Kyp, and Chewie kept a tight grip on Barriss. All in order to avoid being fried by the heavy blaster fire that shot over them.
"Any other ideas?!" Han shouted.
Chewbacca roared something. Han winced.
"'Die heroically?!' THAT'S NOT A PLAN!"
"IT DOESN'T EVEN RESEMBLE A PLAN!" Daala shouted.
OMAKE: The Kids are All Right
Rotta was doing some meditation when he sensed two strong entities in the Force. They were running about, laughing happily, before they skidded to a halt in front of him. Rotta opened his eyes, beholding the late morning Yavin IV greenery... And two humanoid children.
Jason Syndulla, and Trilla Kestis. Jason wore a broad black hat, a red sash, and held a toy sword. Trilla was much the same, with an eye patch. Chopper, carrying some tools and shovels, was grumbling behind them.
"Hi Rotta! We're playing pirates!" Jason said cheerfully. "You want to play?"
"We're gonna find buried treasure, and then we're gonna fight for it, and then we're gonna raid a ship!" Trilla said eagerly.
Rotta grimaced a bit.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked.
"I uh... I don't have good experiences with pirates," Rotta said gently. Jason shook his head, and reached up to pat the young Hutt on the shoulder.
"Don't worry: We're the good kind of pirates!"
"Yeah! We only raid bad people like Imperials!" Trilla said cheerfully. "Won't you play with us? Please?"
"I want to be the bad kind of pirate!" Chopper complained.
"Hush Chopper, or you won't get any treasure!" Jason shot back at the droid.
"Kriffing little organics..."
"We can also liberate a planet!" Jason nodded eagerly.
"Cause that's what Jedi Pirates do!" Trilla said.
"I thought Jedi weren't supposed to have possessions?" Rotta asked wryly.
"Nuh uh! We can!" Jason insisted. "As long as we give most of the money away!"
"Yeah! We're a non-profit Jedi Pirate crew!" Trilla said cheerfully.
Rotta hummed.
"Well... If you're sure..."
Hera Syndulla chuckled as Merrin Kestis looked up from their lunch for the tenth time in as many minutes.
"Calm down, Merrin," Hera said gently, "Jason is a great kid. And this place is very safe."
"Sorry," Merrin sighed, sipping her caf, "We've been on the run for so long... And even with the Force, old habits die hard."
"Tell me about it," Hera sighed, "I had to leave Jason with friends for most of the war. It was too dangerous to lug him around."
"What, you mean you didn't bring him with you to Endor?" Merrin asked, amused. Hera's face soured, as she sipped her tea.
"Of course not! Only idiots and holo journalists-But I repeat myself-would think that!"
Merrin chuckled, looking over her plate.
"I know... I just worry if she'll be all right. It was very lonely for most of her childhood-It was just us and a few others. We had to move constantly. Do... Do you think she'll be able to grow? To blossom?"
Hera opened her mouth... Just as an old landspeeder drifted by. It was a truck, used to haul things around the temple area, and was cobbled together from so many upgrades and spare parts it was barely recognizable from the stock models.
Rotta was driving it, and wore an eyepatch. Trilla, Jason and Chopper were in the back cargo bed, swinging toy swords and blasters around.
"Arrrgh! They'll never take us alive!" Jason shouted.
"Full power to rear deflectors! Fire the cannons!" Trilla shouted.
"Skin them alive and sell the meat!" Chopper shouted.
Rotta laughed loudly, the noise fading slowly as the speeder went around a bend and vanished behind some trees. Merrin gaped... And then giggled softly.
"I... I think I can worry less now."
Hera beamed.
"Told you. More caf?"
"Please!"